University of Connecticut Athletics
Hunter, Duggan Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships on Friday
5/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Friday Results | Saturday Entries
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- After registering a single-season outdoor record 12 individual qualifiers for the NCAA East Regional, the UConn men's track and field team saw its first two members of the squad punch tickets to the NCAA Championship when pole vaulters Craig Hunter and Cory Duggan placed in the top-12 of the event on Friday evening in Jacksonville, Fla.
The top 12 competitors in each event at the NCAA East Preliminary Round, hosted by the University of North Florida on May 28-30, advance to the NCAA Championships, held June 10-13 at the University of Oregon.
Hunter and Duggan, who combined for 14 points at The American outdoor championship on May 17, each notched a 5.25m leap, propelling them into the NCAA pole vault final set for June 10 at 7 p.m. ET.
Redshirt-junior captain Selwyn Maxwell earned an automatic berth in Saturday's 110m hurdle quarterfinal after finishing in the top-six in his heat with a season-best 13.95 second result. Entering the weekend, Maxwell was one of only 24 athletes nationally that secured a sub 14-second time in the event this outdoor season. Teammate Randall Wall missed out on a time qualifier, posting a 14.36 second result.
Trenten Beram's personal-best 21.13 second result in the 200m dash prelims earned him a qualification into Saturday's quarterfinal which will take place at 7:50 p.m.
Conference 400m dash champion Chinedu Amonu wrapped up a stellar season with 47.00 second mark in the event's quarterfinals, finishing at No. 19.
Brian Eilers, who earned a berth in the regional with a 65.88m toss in the javelin at the LSU Gold Alumni meet, picked up a 31st-place finish in the event on Friday with a 63.44m toss. Husky freshman standout Justin Sicari took 39th in the high jump final, leaping 1.99, while Matthew Graziano nabbed 41st in the discus toss with a throw of 50.84m.ÂÂ
"It's great to see Cory and Craig qualify for Eugene," said head coach Greg Roy. "Neither guy missed on any of their attempts which is always nice to see. Selwyn and Trenten both impressed. With Amanze Williams competing in the triple jump tomorrow, we have three guys. We're hoping we can get a couple more to the championships tomorrow."
On Thursday, American Athletic Conference hammer throw champion Chris Ackell finished 28th in the event, notching a 60.98m result in his final collegiate meet. Darnell Cummings narrowly missed advancing to the 100m quarterfinals, checking in in 26th with a 10.57 second result in the prelims.
John Landis, who scored at The American outdoor championship with a 6.88m leap in the long jump, finished 40th with a 6.95m mark in the finals.
As a team, UConn finished as the No. 1 squad in the Northeast Region in the final USTFCCCA Regional rankings.ÂÂ
Players Mentioned
